Camshaft lobe chip - how did this not destroy my head?
 

Ok a bit of a strange one:

Im returning a motor to stock and pulled a set of 264 HKS cams from the head to sell. I had a buyer and while packing the camshafts I noticed a chip on the intake cam:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9f5c289795.jpg

Heres the chip next to the bucket:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f1870772cc.png


These cam of a running and driving car with no issues. My question is how did this not cause more damage to the head?

Had enough surface area on the un-chipped area to not be a problem.
I wouldn't push it any further...
I'd probably chuck the shim that was riding on as well.

not a bad cal. biggest worry is that I cant find that chunk of metal in the head lol

Sounds like its time for a magnetic oil drain plug! Good news is if it came out in one piece it probably won't make it through the oil pump screen.

but if it came out in a bunch of smaller pieces...

I had kind of the opposite problem and I found a chip in one of my shims after I did engine break-in, though cam looked perfect. After shitting water for a while I replaced the shim and kept an eye on the magnetic drain plug. I got what I'd consider a "reasonable" amount of swarf on the magnet and stopped worrying about it after that. Both new shim and cam still look good. sorry about your fancy HKS cam though, that's a bummer. :(